CVE-2025-4232

Root privilege escalation via wildcard injection

Published Jun 12, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026

Improper wildcard neutralization in GlobalProtect App for macOS allows local users to escalate privileges to root through log collection. The log collection feature fails to neutralize wildcard characters before privileged processing, but Palo Alto Networks has not published the affected function. Exploitation requires a local non-administrative account; no special configuration is required, and successful exploitation grants root privileges.

CVSS severity8.4
High
EPSS probability0.44%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper wildcard neutralization in GlobalProtect App for macOS allows local users to escalate privileges to root through log collection. The log collection feature fails to neutralize wildcard characters before privileged processing, but Palo Alto Networks has not published the affected function. Exploitation requires a local non-administrative account; no special configuration is required, and successful exploitation grants root privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-4232
Published
Jun 12, 2025
Updated
Feb 26, 2026
Vendor
Palo Alto Networks
Product
GlobalProtect App
Classifications
CWE-155, CAPEC-248, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 12, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=6.0.0
  2. Affected versionversion=6.1.0
  3. Affected versionversion=6.2.0 <6.2.8-h2 changes=[{"at":"6.2.8-h2","status":"unaffected"}]
  4. Affected versionversion=6.3 <6.3.3 changes=[{"at":"6.3.3","status":"unaffected"}]

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Palo Alto Networks · GlobalProtect Appversion=6.0.0; version=6.1.0; version=6.2.0 <6.2.8-h2 changes=[{"at":"6.2.8-h2","status":"unaffected"}]; version=6.3 <6.3.3 changes=[{"at":"6.3.3","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

8.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.4Palo Alto NetworksCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
5.7Palo Alto NetworksCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:U/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-155Improper Neutralization of Wildcards or Matching Symbols
CAPEC-248Command Injection
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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